Rich, Poor, Outlaw, Inlaw, Normal and Not
by SecretCodeLyokan
Summary: A swordsman, a policeman and a normal kid from different dimensions become best friends and meet in a secret place to talk about what happened to them in the past few days. Little do they know that the day three particular girls enter their lives will be the day their stories' plot changes forever. YxU OxOC JxA
1. Prologue

**Fourth story…dear God!**

 **But I just couldn't resist writing this, so here it is: Rich, poor, Outlaw, Inlaw, Normal and Not.**

 **So, let's start, shall we?**

* * *

 **Rich, Poor, Outlaw, Inlaw, Normal and Not.**

 **Prologue**

* * *

 _Dling!_

The small coin fell on the ground again. He bent down to pick it up, and looked at the writing once again:

'5 Euro Cent'

He shrugged and threw it in the air again; it spun on itself five, ten times per second, the slowed down to eight, six, four, two…

Gravity started pulling the small brown object towards the ground again; the blonde boy stretched his hand out to catch it, waiting for the warm metal piece to fall in his hand…it never came. Instead, he heard another sound, an inch from his shoes.

 _Dling!_

"Argh!" he groaned, bending down to pick up his 5 cents for the tenth time. after the shiny coin was back safely in his pants pocket, he rolled up his sleeve and looked at the digital watch on his wrist: it said, in bright yellow highlight digits, 19:05.

 _When are they coming?_ The boy wondered.

At that precise moment, he heard footsteps approaching him. He looked in front of him: he was sitting in a courtyard, the vegetation was grey and they were two paths in front of him, separated by an old, greyish well; on these paths, two figures were slowly approaching.

The one on the left was a blonde boy with the most enormous glasses he'd ever seen, and his blue eyes sparkled of happiness behind the lenses; he was wearing a blue futuristic uniform, with a shiny silver badge on his left. In one of the uniform's pockets, a black object was sticking out, probably some techno-logic sci-fi Ipad or something.

The boy on the right was a brunette with chocolate eyes that pierced through you like daggers, examining every single emotion or thought in your brain; he was wearing a brown and yellow suit, with brown shoulder and elbow pads; his boots matched the color of his suit. Also, two swords hanged from his sides, another handle sticking out from behind his left shoulder.

His serious expression and his muscular figure suggested that this was the kind of guy you'd better not mess up with, if you ever wanted to see the light of day again.

The boy waved at them: his hair was blonde, with a purple splotch in the middle, and it stood up on end like an upside down ice-cream cone; he was wearing a long-sleeved purple jacket with a hoodie, and purple pants who nearly covered his yellow shoes. His face broke into a smile when the other two waved back.

The three of them, he thought with another smile, were so different from each other, each coming from a different dimension, and how they met had always surprised him: one second he was in his bedroom, wishing for a friend, and the next he was walking a path in that weird, grey courtyard, and met those two near the well.

Of course, there was a bit of tension between them first: the brunette threatened them with his swords, the futuristic boy was holding a gun, shaking a little, and the blonde was trying to convince them he came in peace.

Soon after they had all convinced each other they meant no harm to anyone, they started chatting like nothing weird had happened, the brunette telling them about his travels in the fairytale land he lived in, the futuristic boy confiding his thoughts about the Police Academy from the future where he studied, and the blonde didn't say much, since his life was so normal, the most exciting thing that could happen is discovering your goldfish died of utter boredom.

Then, when he told them he wanted to go back home, he founded himself back in his bedroom, lying in his bed, much to his surprise. He wished himself back in that place, and back he was!

When the whole 'traveling' part was figured out, the three decided to fix up a date to see each other again.

"Next Friday at the same hour?" the futuristic boy asked.

"Nah; I go to my mum's place on Friday and I want to spend time with her" the normal boy answered.

The brunette's eyes widened. "Your parents live in different houses? Are someone's out of werlock son or something?"

The boy shook his head. "No, it's something they do in my dimension: two married people can split up; it's called 'divorce'"

"Interesting" the brunette remarked, thoughtfully. "Why do they split up?"

"Well, sometimes husband and wife fight so much, they can't stand being within two feet of each other; or one of them has an affair with someone and the other ones figures out. There are many other reasons: my parents ended their marriage because my dad was wasting all the money he earned and hardly kept enough to buy a stale crust of bread; they fought since I was seven, and eventually divorced a year later"

"But how can people split up when they said in their vows that they loved each other?"

"It's…complicated, Ulrich"

Ulrich didn't say anymore, no matter how many questions he had: he saw the young boy starting to shed a few tears, probably thinking about his parents.

He patted his back. "Sorry, buddy"

"Never mind, Ulrich: you live in another dimension, it's normal for you to not understand"

"Anyway, guys" the futuristic boy clapped his hands to get their attention. "When shall we meet again?"

Ulrich shrugged. "Tomorrow?"

"No: tomorrow I've got training lessons"

"Good luck, then"

"Thanks"

"What about next Tuesday?" the blonde boy suggested.

Ulrich thought about it. "Tuesday's good for me"

"Every day's good for you: you haven't got anything to do!"

"Shut up, Jeremy"

The futuristic boy shrugged. "It's true; anyway, Tuesday's fine for me"

"Then Tuesday it is; at seven o'clock in the evening?"

Ulrich and Jeremy looked at each other, before turning to their third friend and nodded. "Every Tuesday at 19:00 it is" they said together.

Odd stuck his hand out. "Put your hand on mine; I'll count to three, and then, we rise them in the air and yell: 'Best Friends Forever', ok?"

Jeremy nodded and put his small hand on top of the boy's. Ulrich hesitated a second, before putting his own strong hand forward.

"Ok: One, two, three: BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!"

The three new friends raised their hands to the sky, and laughed.

* * *

"Odd?" the blonde boy was pulled back to the present.

"Yeah, Jeremy?" he said, absentmindedly.

"What were you thinking of?" the futuristic boy asked him, suspiciously.

Odd smirked. "I was remembering our first meeting"

They all smiled at that thought.

"So, how's life?" Ulrich asked the spiky-haired friend.

Odd smiled. "Well, same old at home, but something new happened at school: I met a new girl"

"What is she like?" Jeremy asked curiously, sitting down with the others: it was about time Odd had some interesting news.

"Her name's Layla" the normal boy explained. "And she's really nice; she just moved in from UK"

"Who are her parents?" Ulrich asked. Odd frowned.

"Dunno; we talked about many things, but she didn't mention her parents" he scratched the back of his neck, thoughtfully. "Maybe she's an orphan"

"Could be"

Jeremy waited patiently while Odd kept talking about Layla; when he finished, the futuristic boy literally leaped in the air.

"Guess what!" he showed off his badge. "I got promoted today! I'm a fully-fledged policeman!"

"Congrats!" Odd exclaimed, patting Jeremy on the back. Ulrich shook his hand, like an adult congratulating his business partner for a promotion.

"Congratulations, Jer!" he said. Jeremy knew that what he did was how his people normally reacted to the news, so he smiled at him.

"I'm so happy!" he told them, excitingly. "My Mum screamed her heart out and my Dad couldn't stop hugging me; I have a feeling they're preparing a celebration party as we speak!"

Odd kept congratulating him, but Ulrich remained silent: he was still pondering about what had happened in the past few days…

"Hello? Earth to the swordsman!" Odd waved a hand in front of the brunette's face, and the startled boy quickly drew out one of his swords, pointing it at his friend's chest, but put it back when he realized who the hand belonged to.

"Woah!" Odd exclaimed. "You're trained well!"

Ulrich shrugged. "I'm a fast learner"

"What were you thinking about?"

Jeremy bit his tongue when he saw Ulrich's expression: dang his stupid curiosity!

"Don't worry, Jer, you didn't say anything bad; I was just thinking of what happened recently" he sat on a grey rock and sighed, drawing out another one of his swords, the one on his back, and started twirling it with his fingers.

Odd and Jeremy looked at the blade and gasped at the slight trickle of dry blood on it.

"A few days ago" the swordsman said. "I arrived in this town; and I met this girl…" he slowly started to tell his tale…

* * *

 **So, I'm gonna be cruel and leave you all hanging! HA! JK! I'm leaving you all hanging 'cause it's late and I need to wake up bright and early for Code Lyoko tomorrow. Yay!**

 **Sorry if this chapter's horrid and a bit rushed, but it's nearly midnight and I need to go. 'Till the next time!**

 **Next episode: "Ulrich's story: Royalty Rebel"**


	2. Royalty Rebel

**Here I am, and here's your chapter and 20 dollars…ok, enough Big Bang Theory references. This is a Code Lyoko fanfic, right?**

 **Fans: Right!**

 **So, let's start!**

 **Fans: Yay!**

 **Now, I'll be starting with an introduction about Ulrich's life, and then I'll come to the point where he'll meet 'this girl'…anyone can guess who it is?**

* * *

 **Rich, Poor, Outlaw, Inlaw, Normal and Not**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Ulrich's Story "Royalty Rebel"**

 **Intro**

Ulrich had always been the kind of person who would die of boredom if he stayed in a house any longer. His life was in the outdoors, his heart was a sword, and his money depended on his swordsman skills…or, at least, that's what he wanted.

Ulrich Alexandr Stern was the son of Hannah Adelaide Reins and Duke Walter Stern, a man who cared for noting but his honor and title; he didn't work, he didn't made his wife and son's life easier, he never cared for anyone, so the reason he ever married and had a child was a big mystery.

Adelaide was a nobleman's daughter, and she had only married the beastly Duke to help her father with his financial problems. Unfortunately, Walter wouldn't give the old man what he needed, the Duke being greedy and all, and Adelaide was locked in a room accused of conspiring against her husband.

Adelaide wasn't one bit scared or worried, living in that room: she was always given three meals a day, enough to let her live, and when Ulrich was born, she raised him all by herself, teaching him everything she knew.

* * *

When Ulrich was seven he met fear for the first time in his life, in the form of a big spider hiding in his bed. He screamed and hid behind his mother, as she patiently trapped the arachnid with a glass and a towel and tossed it out of the window.

* * *

"My dear, you shouldn't be scared of spiders" she said to her little boy. "if it wasn't for them, flies will be twice as numerous and hard to get rid of"

Ulrich looked in his mother's emerald eyes. "When I grow up" he said to her. "I'll get rid of all of the flies in this world"

Adelaide stroked his cheek. "I really hope so, my dear" she said, a bit sadly. "I really hope so…"

* * *

Ulrich was seven and a half when his mother introduced him to fencing. Her brother was an expert, and he had taught her many things; since Ulrich always got bored in his room, Adelaide decided to teach him this skill, which he learned with pleasure.

* * *

At the age of thirteen, Ulrich had learned everything his mother knew, and she promised him that, when the time was right, he could escape and go far away into the world.

"When will that time be?" the brunette asked. She smiled sadly. "I over-heard someone say that your father was going to execute me; he knows about you, and if he comes in here" she raised her son's chin up. "Stay hidden, pack anything necessary and run; don't let him catch you, my dear"

Ulrich nodded, but didn't smile for the rest of the day.

* * *

It was three days later that he saw his father for the first time: it was nighttime, and he had slowly opened the door, a shiny item in his hand. Ulrich curled up in a ball and didn't make a single sound, closing his eyes as he heard his mother scream.

It was the second time he had ever felt fear. Fear for the man who was supposed to be his father. Fear for the scream of a murdered person. Fear for the assassins' cold hearts. Ulrich was scared and didn't move. But, as soon as his father turned his back and locked the door behind him, the boy crept towards his mother's bed and cried.

This would be the last time fear would stop him for doing what's right.

* * *

The next day, as Ulrich was packing up his things, a servant came in and told him that his father had died; when he asked how and why, they said he was poisoned.

Ulrich packed everything, including three swords and the knife his mother was executed with, and announced that he was leaving.

"But why?" everyone asked.

Ulrich raised his head.

"I have been treated for thirteen years like a prisoner; my mother was murdered by the person who swore to love her forever in his marriage vows; this place is for nobleman: then why was a woman murdered and her son imprisoned with her? I'm leaving to find a better place; as for you all, you're free"

The servants stared at him. "You are indeed fit to be an heir, sir"

Ulrich looked down, sadly. "I'm not an heir" he said. "I never was: my father locked me and my mother before I was born; I'm a poor ex-prisoner"

Ha walked out of his house, admiring for a few minutes the town and the palace behind him.

"I shall never turn back" he said to the enormous palace. "Never"

True to his words, he soon set off, not turning his head around for even a second to say goodbye.

* * *

For three years our hero had wandered around the 'Archaic' France, a week staying somewhere, another one traveling to a faraway place or living in the woods. He earned what he could, and worked hard to survive.

Despite his stubbornness and bad answers to a situation, he had a kind heart and honored his ex-title; if they gave him money, he'd share it with someone, but if they asked him to stay, he would kindly refuse, for he was meant to live free.

Everyone knew him, as a wanderer or as the heir who abandoned his 'prison', and, as far as they knew, he would never fall in love: people say it was because he was afraid to kill his beloved like his father did.

Little did Ulrich know, love isn't just respecting your vows: love is much more. And he was about to find out…

 **End Intro**

* * *

"What is this place?"

Ulrich had arrived in what looked like a happy town: the market stalls were filled with colors, people were happy and dancing, and music was playing not far away.

A girl was dancing happily, when she heard Ulrich's words. "Don't you know?" she laughed. "This is Delmont, the the center of France!"

Ulrich's eyes widened. "You mean that Ishiyama, the Royal Family, lives here?"

"Yes; and today is their daughter's birthday"

 _So that's why everyone's cheerful._

"Who are you?" the little girl asked him, curiously.

"A fellow wanderer" Ulrich answered, smiling.

She stared at his swords. She had never seen a wanderer with three weapons before; scared, she danced away towards her friends.

 _Note to self: hide swords the next time._

He pushed across people and stalls, a bit annoyed: he never liked celebrations, mostly because they reminded him of home…and of broken promises.

He walked towards the palace: it was even bigger than his father's, and twice as large; banners hanged from the grey walls, and flags were on the towers. Had he been a prince, he would've been pretty annoyed by all of this attention.

 _Then again._ He thought. _I'm not of noble blood._

Ulrich explored a bit the town he was in. There was nothing much, the only difference was that people were sickly happier and more joyous than normal; it was nice, but somehow…what was the word? Ah, yes… _creepy._

Still, he shrugged it off and went to explore the palace grounds, but, much to his dismay, they were as boring as everything else.

Ulrich could feel his crave for adventure devouring like an animal: he had to find some interesting place. He saw an abandoned alley, which could be perfect for a thriller film, not faraway. He decided to enter it

He walked without stopping to turn around or to ask himself what those creaking sounds were, choosing his steps carefully, his left hand on the sword handle of said side: one wrong step and he could alert whoever was hiding there; plus, this place could be dangerous even for him.

"You don't know who you're messing with!"

A clear, female and angry voice rang throughout the alley. Ulrich ran towards it and hid in the shadows, to see who it was: a girl, probably his age if not older, was pinned to a wall by a bunch of drunk criminals, her nose wrinkling at the smell of their breath; she was wearing a red gown, ripped to her knees, and darker red pants.

 _A girl wearing trousers?_ Ulrich was wide-eyed.

Odd and Jeremy had told him girls did wear trousers in their dimensions, but it wasn't technically legal for a girl in his, so he never saw one wearing male clothes. It was one of the biggest surprises in his life.

What else shocked him was that her expression wasn't scared or sad, but angry and unfriendly; she probably wasn't one of these maidens his mother had read to him, those gils which cried in fear. Not indeed

For a second, he wondered if that rebellious teen could be a girl from Odd or Jeremy's dimension, but he decided to accept the hypothesis that not all girls in this France were weak damsels in distress.

"And who are we dealing with?" one of the criminals, probably the boss, laughed. "A girl wearing trousers?"

The girl's face matched her dress. "So, what are you going to do?" she asked, coldly."Kill me? Steal my money? Kidnap me?"

"Hmm" another no-gooder reached for his knife and point it a centimeter away from her throat. "I could sell your head"

"How much?" the girl asked.

"One hundred gold pieces"

"Ridiculous price!"

"Watch your mouth, little princess!" the no-gooder with the knife waved the shiny metal around. "You don't wanna mess with Silver Patch!"

She rolled her eyes. Ulrich couldn't help but admire her courage. Any girl her age would be whimpering in her corner begging for dear life; she, on the other hand, was asking to get killed.

"Hey, Silver what-ever!" she shouted. "Did you know you could bet something even better than my head?"

"Really?" his eyes filled with greed.

The girl smiled as she kicked him in the stomach, freeing her arms in the process. All of the other gang attempted to stab her with their own weapons, but she put her hand behind a back for one second, while doing back-flips and avoiding knives. Then, she retrieved four shiny metal objects from a pocket in her back and tossed them at the criminals, pinning them to the wall.

Ulrich's eyes widened. _THROWING STARS? Is that girl's family of Asian origins?_

Asian or not, she was fighting like a pro and knocking off man by man. I can't give you all the details, since I don't know much about fighting skills or martial arts, but I can tell that, in less than an hour, the girl had beaten all of the criminals.

"Not laughing anymore, huh?" she grinned.

Suddenly, Ulrich saw one of them reaching behind her with a knife.

"Look out!" he yelled, stepping in and knocking the guy out, before he could strike the young teen.

He exhaled, relieved; but, before he knew it, he felt himself being pinned on the ground by someone. That someone was the girl he had saved.

"Who the heck are you?" she snarled.

"Funny; where I come from, we usually say: 'Thanks'" He smirked, sarcastically.

"Shut up, and answer me!" she yelled.

"Ok, ok, calm down!" Ulrich looked in her eyes. "Name's Ulrich; Ulrich Stern"

The girl sighed, before saying her name. "I'm Yumi; Yumi Ishiyama"

Ulrich froze. Yumi Ishiyama? The _Princess_? The princess was on top of him, pinning him down, inches from his face…wait, what?

Yumi froze too, realizing her position, and blushed in the dark; Ulrich could feel the heat rising in his cheeks, as he looked in her dark eyes: she had short, raven-colored hair, falling on the right side of her face, partly covering her eye. Her skin was paler than his and her nose and lips resembled those of a porcelain figure. She was, well, _beautiful._

Yumi, in the meantime, was staring at the boy in front of her: he had the warmest chocolate eyes she had ever seen, and his hair was untidy and cut badly, since some hair locks were longer than others. She felt a weird, tingling sensation she had never felt before.

"So, you're royal blood?" she asked.

Ulrich wanted partly to stand up and partly to remain in this position forever, lost in those dark pits that were her eyes.

He slowly shook his head and told her his story.

Yumi raised an eyebrow. "So, wanderer? Shame: my parents would be crazy if I brought a rich guy home"

Ulrich smirked. "Speaking of which, why aren't you in the palace for the celebrations?"

Her eyes widened. "Are you kidding me? Those things are boring and too center-of-attention: my worst nightmare"

"Then I'm pretty sure getting pinned by these criminals" he nodded towards the fainted men. "Wasn't your first time"

She shrugged. "I find life boring sometimes, so I trained before ever stepping out of the palace; what about you?"

"My uncle was a swordsman: he taught my mum a thing or two and she taught me"

"Impressing" she gazed in his eyes, wondering if there was anything more beautiful than them.

Ulrich was blushing like an idiot for no particular reason. They stood there, staring, for who knows how long; then suddenly, he didn't know why, her face seemed closer…

* * *

He had never believed in love at first sight; he thought it was kinda stupid to fall for someone you didn't even know. Now, he wondered if those people who fell in love at first sight had known more than they ever knew of that person the first time they stared in his or her eyes. Because that's what he saw in Yumi's: her whole childhood, her passions, what she hated, what she liked…call it instinct, call it magic, call it whatever you want, but he suddenly felt as if the girl in front of him wasn't a random stranger, but a best friend.

* * *

She had always wondered how people could fall in love; Yumi had heard tales, but she never experienced the feeling. She had always admired human emotions: how they made you cry, how they made you mad, how they made you caring and ready to risk your life for that person…was love at first sight possible? If so, was that the reason she was leaning closer to the sixteen-year old boy?

* * *

Ulrich didn't understand much of the situation. He only knew two things:

One, she was leaning towards him

Two, _he was leaning back!_

But he didn't mind; nothing minded during that time. Nothing at all.

* * *

Their eyes fluttered shut, as the two started to slowly close the distance between one another.

What is it about this emotion that slowed time down? They could just speed it up. But, maybe, speeding it up would be like saying 'I'm on a tight schedule, so here (…) bye'; he didn't mind though: it was a nice feeling.

He could feel her closer now; maybe an inch or less. He just prayed no one would see him: that would be the most embarrassing thing in his life…

He could sense it, now; closer, closer, just half a second more...

DONG! DONG! DONG!

Ulrich cursed silently: darn clock! Yumi sighed in frustration.

"I have to go now; my parents will be worrying" she stood up, helping the brunette on his feet.

"So, wanna meet again? Go around town, I could show you around a bit…"

She had never felt so frustrated _and_ embarrassed in her whole life. But, deep in her heart, Yumi hoped he won't go away from town that quickly...

"Uh…sure" Ulrich mumbled, scratching the back of his neck. "So, tomorrow fine for you?"

Yumi smiled, and moved a lock behind her ear. "Sure; five o'clock, near the palace garden; don't get caught!"

He smirked. "Don't worry; I've been through worse"

She waved and headed for the end of the alley; but Yumi had barely made a few steps that she turned around and went back to Ulrich.

She was visibly a bit nervous. Before Ulrich had time to think, the rebel princess bent down a bit **(A/N: she was a few centimeters taller; not that much though)** and kissed his cheek. It was a light kiss, but the wanderer could feel her desperation in it, as if apologizing for what she did (or didn't do?) before.

"Goodnight, Ulrich" she whispered, walking away.

"Goodnight Yumi" he whispered back. Stroking lightly the his cheek, he couldn't help but feel depressed.

The darn clock (curse that clock!) had stopped them before they could kiss. Before he could confirm this weird feeling he had...this weird feeling that made him want to run towards the princess and kiss her cheek in return...

* * *

Ulrich finished his story with a sigh, still twirling the sword in his hand.

"We became friends after that" he said. "We also hunted in the forest" he cleaned the blood from his sword.

"So, that's animal blood?" Odd asked, relieved: for a second, he thought his friend had killed someone.

He was also surprised: Ulrich was in love! At first sight! And they had nearly kissed! Did he stumbled in another parallel grey courtyard? Or was this a dream?

Ulrich put his sword back in his sheath. "Yeah; animal blood"

Odd looked at his watch: an hour had passed. "Sorry guys, gotta go: I have to go to the cinema with my friends"

Ulrich had no idea what a 'cinema' was, but he knew it was similar to a theater and it was some kind of luxury.

"Well, bye Odd" the two waved, as the blonde disappeared.

* * *

"What a day"

Odd found himself back in his room, on his bed and smirked: Jeremy had a promotion, he had a 'friend date' with Layla, and Ulrich had met a pretty princess he had fallen for.

 _Still._ Odd thought. _I'm worried for Ulrich: I might be an idiot, but I know animal blood when I see it. What if…_ Odd gasped at the thought that just occurred to him.

* * *

 **DUN DUN DUN!**

 **Suspense! So, we met Yumi, and things are going to get complicated and fluffy for our lovebirds, just wait and see. Next episode: "Timed-out Thief", where Jeremy will be assigned on his first policeman job…and he'll meet someone he didn't expect! 10 points to everyone who guesses who!**

' **Till the next time!**


End file.
